1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to component modification and, in particular, to a method and apparatus for modifying aircraft components. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for reworking an aircraft component formed of composite material by using a robot/machine to reverse engineer the component and then using the same robot/machine to rework the component.
2. Background
With composite materials becoming increasingly prevalent in the manufacture of aircraft components, for example and without limitation, wing and fuselage components, the need to be able to efficiently rework out of tolerance areas on such components is growing accordingly. Reworking a surface of a composite material may require that a scarf machining operation, e.g. a grinding or sanding operation, be performed to prepare the surface for rework.
Reworking components formed of composite material, for example and without limitation, scarf machining components formed of composite material, is usually performed by skilled labor using a substantially manual procedure. The procedure can take many hours and requires a high degree of skill due to the complexity of the geometries of typical components being reworked and because of the extreme accuracy that is usually required.
Furthermore, the use of manual labor to rework components formed of composite materials may create challenges due to both carbon dust that may be produced during the rework procedure and loads that may be induced on the component during the scarf machining operation. Yet further, the size of the existing skilled workforce may not be sufficient when composite aircraft currently being manufactured reach the market and require servicing.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a method and apparatus that overcomes the above issues in reworking or otherwise modifying components formed of composite material.